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Old 05-28-2018, 08:09 AM   #11
ericbsmith
 
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Default Re: Clarification: Talent Skill Choice

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Originally Posted by malloyd View Post
I'm not even convinced "all weapons" isn't as believable an aptitude as many of the other Talents.
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Originally Posted by Kelly Pedersen View Post
I wouldn't even price it that high, personally. I think it's balanced fine as a 15-point Talent. I could see something like that being the gift of a war god to their clerics in a fantasy setting, for instance.
Certainly, 15 points for "all weapons, plus a couple connected mental skills" is relatively balanced against DX+1 [20], Basic Speed -0.25 [-5] for the same cost.

I think what gets unbalanced, and why there's the recommendation against having a general "weapons" talent, is because at 5 points a talent with 5-6 weapon skills is kind of unbalanced, and at 10 points for 7-12 it's kind of questionable.
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Old 05-28-2018, 08:37 AM   #12
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Default Re: Clarification: Talent Skill Choice

I'd allow all combat skills for [15/level], and all of either ranged or melee for [10/level]. I don't think either of those are in any way broken, and they fit archetypes and general training very well.

Kromm mentioned the guidelines on such talents in PU3, and the points are very good. Particularly number 2.
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Old 05-28-2018, 08:42 AM   #13
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Default Re: Clarification: Talent Skill Choice

An "all weapon skills" Talent at 15 points would probably be reasonably fair. One of the not-so-hidden truths of weapon skills is that most people don't actually take more than a handful. What I typically see is this: main Melee Weapon skill, Fast-Draw for that (if allowed), off-hand or backup skill (Cloak, Knife, Main-Gauche, Shield, etc.), main ranged combat skill, and Fast-Draw for the ammo (if allowed). Once those skills hit their stride, that's 20 points per +1 to all five . . . and a level of DX is just 20 points, and also gives +1 to unarmed combat tasks, +0.25 to Basic Speed, +1 to all DX-based noncombat skills, +1 to all DX-based defaults, and +1 to a wide range of generic DX rolls (including many that can't be raised as skills). All that other stuff arguably provides much of the value of DX.

At 15 points/level for just weapon skills, I think there would be relatively few takers unless there were a cool alternative benefit – players would favor DX +1 [20] and Basic Speed -0.25 [-5] if they could get away with it. What the cool alternative benefit ought to be is hard to say. Something like +1 damage per level would be a little too good. "Includes one Weapon Bond per level" could be attractive, as at level four you'd really have +5 to all the weapon skills likely to matter, making the real cost per +1 more like 12 points than 15 points. And it seems in-theme that "good with all weapons" includes "good at picking the perfect weapon for you."
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Old 05-28-2018, 10:39 AM   #14
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Default Re: Clarification: Talent Skill Choice

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Originally Posted by Kelly Pedersen View Post
I wouldn't even price it that high, personally. I think it's balanced fine as a 15-point Talent.
You could make the argument that since it would be really hard to get to a point, build- or situation-wise, where a character could make use of every single proficiency in the Talent, that every weapon skill eventually becomes worse than only a few.

Unless you were playing a game where weapons routine got lost or destroyed and there was extreme variety in which new ones were around.
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Old 05-28-2018, 10:43 AM   #15
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Default Re: Clarification: Talent Skill Choice

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Originally Posted by Kromm View Post
At 15 points/level for just weapon skills, I think there would be relatively few takers unless there were a cool alternative benefit – players would favor DX +1 [20] and Basic Speed -0.25 [-5] if they could get away with it. What the cool alternative benefit ought to be is hard to say. Something like +1 damage per level would be a little too good. "Includes one Weapon Bond per level" could be attractive, as at level four you'd really have +5 to all the weapon skills likely to matter, making the real cost per +1 more like 12 points than 15 points. And it seems in-theme that "good with all weapons" includes "good at picking the perfect weapon for you."
Maybe a wider reaction bonus, perhaps one that can even be applied vs opponents in combat to make them think twice about tangling with someone just that good at using weapons. (I haven't read every single thin in the Basics book, so I have no idea if this is a thing in GURPS.)
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Old 05-28-2018, 11:04 AM   #16
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Default Re: Clarification: Talent Skill Choice

Going with my policy of always having a mix of base attributes in the skills of a talent, I'd definitely throw in appropriate Armory specializations, Expert Skill (Hopology), Connoisseur (Weapons), and a bonus to Merchant but only when haggling over weapons.

If the talent was restricted to pre-gunpowder weapons, I'd still charge 15 points but I'd expand the secondary skills and Merchant bonus to "... and armor".

If restricted to post-gunpowder weapons... hm. Interesting problem.
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Old 05-28-2018, 11:27 AM   #17
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Default Re: Clarification: Talent Skill Choice

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Originally Posted by SilvercatMoonpaw View Post
Maybe a wider reaction bonus, perhaps one that can even be applied vs opponents in combat to make them think twice about tangling with someone just that good at using weapons. (I haven't read every single thin in the Basics book, so I have no idea if this is a thing in GURPS.)
A situational bonus to Intimidation, Fast-Talk, and Diplomacy rolls seem appropriate, when dealing with your combat skills.

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Going with my policy of always having a mix of base attributes in the skills of a talent, I'd definitely throw in appropriate Armory specializations, Expert Skill (Hopology), Connoisseur (Weapons), and a bonus to Merchant but only when haggling over weapons.
I'd also throw in unarmed combat skills. If you're much of a Master-At-Arms with weapon skills much of that is going to translate directly to unarmed skills as well. In fact, most styles include unarmed skills because there are times when you have to grapple or punch, even if you are armed with a weapon.

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Originally Posted by Bruno View Post
If the talent was restricted to pre-gunpowder weapons, I'd still charge 15 points but I'd expand the secondary skills and Merchant bonus to "... and armor".

If restricted to post-gunpowder weapons... hm. Interesting problem.
Guns already default heavily to one-another anyways, so it really doesn't matter if you're talking one guns specialty or all of them. And once you get to gunpowder weapons the usefulness of archaic weapons goes down considerably. Yeah, there are times when a knife or a bow might come in handy, but they're fewer. There are even fewer times when a broadsword or a polearm are going to be of use to you.
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Last edited by ericbsmith; 05-28-2018 at 11:31 AM.
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Old 05-28-2018, 11:37 AM   #18
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Default Re: Clarification: Talent Skill Choice

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Originally Posted by ericbsmith View Post
Yeah, there are times when a knife or a bow might come in handy, but they're fewer.
Unless you're talking about a gonzo setting where sword-wielders can pull off ludicrous moves to get into range or block bullets. Though in that case "sword" probably means "Innate Attack (Limitation: Needs sword)".
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Old 05-28-2018, 10:05 PM   #19
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Default Re: Clarification: Talent Skill Choice

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Originally Posted by Kromm View Post
An "all weapon skills" Talent at 15 points would probably be reasonably fair.
Arguably, a "weapon talent" which applies just to ranged weapons might be realistic, since some people have superior hand/eye coordination, target acquisition, weapon control, and/or distance estimation abilities.

Call it "Born Sniper", cost it at 10 or 15 points per level. It gives a bonus to any DX-based thrown or missile weapon skill from Bow to Beam Weapons, and a reaction bonus from shooting sports enthusiasts and fellow shooters.

Arguably, existing traits might give bonuses to additional skills when the skill roll is based on a different attribute. For example, Artificer skill might apply to IQ-based rolls to Guns skill for Immediate Action.
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Old 05-31-2018, 09:16 AM   #20
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Default Re: Clarification: Talent Skill Choice

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Originally Posted by ericbsmith View Post
I think what gets unbalanced, and why there's the recommendation against having a general "weapons" talent, is because at 5 points a talent with 5-6 weapon skills is kind of unbalanced, and at 10 points for 7-12 it's kind of questionable.
I think the actual unbalanced case is the 5 point talent in two or more weapons in *functionally different* categories. Five different close combat, or melee, or long reach, or short ranged, or long ranged missile weapons wouldn't be so bad even at 5 points. Warriors normally have a single preferred weapon for each of those roles anyway. It's one from two or more categories for 5 points , or 3 or more for 10 points, that starts to look a bit unfair to the guys buying theirs per skill.
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